


Monsoon Season

by nightfalltwen



Series: The Abroad Saga [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-10
Updated: 2012-02-10
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfalltwen/pseuds/nightfalltwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ernie is sent to India to work on the Floo Network.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monsoon Season

**Author's Note:**

> Occurs after all previous installments. This work is un-beta'd. Any and all mistakes are mine.

_June 2009_

"You're sending me _where_?" Ernie looked up from the portkey request he'd just been handed utterly and unequivocally convinced that it had to be a misprint. "Seriously?"

"Now, Macmillan." Mr Quincy, Ernie's direct superior, began to pour tea from a silver teapot. "You're the only junior minister in Magical Transportation who has the spare time. And you're the only junior minister we feel can handle a project of such magnitude. This is very important for both England and the Wizarding world."

A little muscle right above Ernie's eyebrow twitched. He could tell when someone was spreading it on thick, even if it did have some truth to it. Early in his ministry career, Ernie Macmillan had managed to set himself apart from the other quill pushers in the department. He'd been one of the younger ones promoted to a junior minister position after all the work he put into retrofitting the Floo Network. Especially in the outer Hebrides.

They liked the hard working Hufflepuffs at the Ministry. Hufflepuffs got the work _done_.

That didn't mean that he liked being the one chosen to go on some wild international project. No matter how beneficial it might be for England. Ernie was a homebody. He liked England. He liked Scotland. He liked the cold rain and the fog. He liked rolling green hills and the crashing surf of the ocean that surrounded this little island he called home. He would rather live out his days in a cottage overlooking the Channel than travel anywhere. In fact, other than Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Ernie had not travelled. Ever.

"Besides. You'll love New Delhi," said Quincy. "It's a city with a very rich heritage and lots of things to see and do."

That was it. No more arguments. Ernie was dismissed and he knew it. An hour later he was downing a pint of Butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron, pouring out his irritation to Hannah.

" _Love_ New Delhi. Love!" He wiped the back of his sleeve across his mouth. "I don't know the first thing about India. Except that it's hot and sweaty. Sweaty! Hannah, they're going to make me perspire!"

"You never know, Ernie," Hannah said as she wiped a cloth over the bar in front of him. "It could be lovely. And you could see the Taj Mahal while you're in the country. I've only seen pictures, but you could actually _see_ it.

"What am I going to eat while I'm there?" Ernie ignored what she said. "I have a delicate constitution. Remember when we ate at _Tika Tika_ last month? I thought I was going to die!"

"Oh buck up, Macmillan." Zacharias slid into the chair next to Ernie, but not before leaning across the bar to kiss Hannah on the lips. "Seeing the world isn't going to kill you. I spent eight years in another country and it didn't ruin me."

Ernie bristled a bit, not something he could control just yet. For years he'd been angry at Zacharias and even though everything had been explained -- the whole thing with his housemate's sister -- Ernie still couldn't stop the feeling of irritation slide across his skin. It was slowly going away. He was making a strong effort to see that it was a forgivable offence and that Zach had only done what he'd done out of love for his family. But of all the Hufflepuffs, Ernie was probably one of the most stubborn. Too many things had changed too quickly and he did not like it. Hannah's pending divorce, her new relationship with Zacharias, Susan's marriage to the Ravenclaw and her daughter (though Charlotte was a sweetheart), making her the first of the Hufflepuffs in his year to start a family. Change, he'd been told, was good, but Ernie didn't care for it happening as often as it did.

"I don't think this compares at all, Zacharias," Ernie said, downing the rest of his Butterbeer. "You _did_ get to choose your country. I'm having this foisted upon me."

"Oh Ernie," Hannah said, tossing the cloth towards the sink behind the bar; it landed with a plop. "Try not to get so worked up over it. It's not like they're asking you to move there forever."

"And I'll _guarantee_ you'll find something you like while you're there," Zacharias added, clapping Ernie's shoulder with his hand.

"I really don't think that either of you are being very sympathetic to my plight," Ernie sniffed and dropped his coins on the counter for Hannah. "You know that I'll probably be exposed to cholera or something just as nasty."

Hannah swept the money off the counter into her hand and dropped it into the pocket of her apron. "You won't, Ernie. Please be a little more open-minded about it."

But Ernie wouldn't hear any more. It was quite obvious that his friends didn't really care all that much about his safety or well-being. He bid them both farewell and headed back to the Ministry to contemplate his dark fate. The two of them would certainly be singing a different tune when he came back riddled with leprosy or the bubonic plague.

That would certainly show them.

***

Ernie knew from the start that this trip was headed for an unmitigated disaster. The Portkey office was months behind in securing international requests. God how he hated the incompetent yahoos that worked in that office. And even with the bungling the trip had not been postponed. The Ministry was so dead set on this deal going through that he'd been given tickets on a Muggle aeroplane. Some Turkish airline which made Ernie very uncomfortable. Why was a Turkish airline going to India? Would it drop him off in Turkey and expect him to walk the rest of the way? And he didn't know a thing about Muggle transportation. How on earth did they keep these metal creatures from falling out of the sky without magic?

Questions that were never answered.

Susan and Terry drove him to Heathrow.

"We can't go all the way to the gate with you, Ernie," explained Terry Boot, Susan's impossibly tall husband. "Don't argue with anyone who asks you to take your shoes off. And they shouldn't have a problem with your wand as long as you keep it concealed. It's not in a metal holster is it?"

Ernie looked at the Ravenclaw as he chatted, an arm resting across Susan's shoulders as she pushed the pram down towards security with him. He patted his thigh. "No. Leather. Really, Boot. We've been over this countless times. I think I can handle one lit-- Oh my God! They've got wands in public! Alert the Ministry."

"Those are hand-held metal detectors, Ernie," said Susan as she lifted baby Charlotte from the pram. "Terry already told you about those."

"Yes. Yes, of course you told me. I was just testing you." He raised his chin. "I suppose this is it then?" He held out his arms for the baby. Of all the people in the entire world that didn't cause him to get all blustery, it was eight-month-old Charlotte Boot. She just seemed to make things more calm and put together. Ernie, of course, wasn't surprised by this. The little girl was part Hufflepuff. The better part, he always insisted.

"Take care of your mum and dad while I'm gone, Peanut," he said as the little girl grabbed his ear with a wet hand. "If I don't make it back, you can have all my packing boxes to play with."

"Have a lovely trip," said Susan as she took Charlotte back and gave Ernie a hug with her free arm. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and smiled. "You'll be fine."

Terry shook his hand, which was well appreciated as Ernie didn't care for over-emotional men. Or lengthy goodbyes.

He'd never admit it to them, though, that he was entirely grateful Terry and Susan had stayed until he was through security before they turned to leave. 

Once he found his gate, Ernie slumped into an uncomfortable chair and waited, his satchel on his lap. Overhead some sort of ominous voice reminded everyone not to leave their things unattended. The airport was noisy, full of people he didn't recognise, most of them speaking a language he didn't understand. It was the start of what he felt would be a long and painful journey. Thank goodness he'd had the foresight to bring a tiny bottle of sleeping potion disguised as a travel bottle of shampoo. Twenty-two hours in something that was entirely controlled by Muggles was not something he was looking forward to in the slightest.

***

Despite the fact that he'd slept most of the way, Ernie was tired, sore and cranky from the long trip. Also very hungry because the potion had knocked him out so that he missed one of the in-flight meals. They wouldn't even bring him something later on except little pouches of very salty peanuts. Savages. He cursed Muggles and all their ilk for inventing such a horrible way to travel. How did they do it? Why did they even bother leaving the country if _this_ was the only way for them to do it without spending a week on a train or even longer in one of those automobiles?

The corridors at Indira Gandhi International were long and filled with very loud, very travel-weary people. Twice Ernie found himself lost and unable to find baggage claim. Had it not been for a backpacking American couple that took pity on him, he might have ended up on a flight bound for Vancouver. By the time he reached the carousel, luggage from his flight was already circling around. It took three attempts to grab his suitcase and some very foul language to an elderly woman who wouldn't move out of the way. Luckily it seemed as though she didn't speak a lick of English because she patted Ernie on the head and said something he didn't understand with a gummy smile on her face.

Once his suitcase was in hand, Ernie turned around to look for any sign of the person who was to escort him to the Ministry. All the faces seemed to blur together into one single face. He started to worry that perhaps maybe they'd forgotten he was coming.

That would be just his luck, wouldn't it?

Then he saw a young woman holding a piece of cardboard with _E. Macmillan_ written across it in dark lettering. The sign hung limply from her fingertips as she chatted to the person standing next to her.

Ernie approached. "I'm E!"

The woman turned her head at his voice and raised her eyebrows then glanced back at the other person she'd been chatting with, speaking rapidly in Punjabi. Ernie couldn't understand any of it. He sat down his suitcase and patted his chest with the flat of his hand.

"Me," he said slowly. "E. Like sign. E. Macmillan. Errr-nieee. You take me. We go now."

She sighed and crossed her arms. Ernie didn't know what to do. If she didn't believe that he was who he said she was, would she just leave without taking him with her? Maybe if he showed her his wand. It was still strapped to his arm and he could show it to prove he was a wizard. But that made him uneasy because what if she was just a Muggle hired to drive him somewhere? She didn't look like any of the other drivers waiting with their name cards. She looked like... Well he didn't know what she looked like. He supposed it was close to what a normal Indian citizen looked like all wrapped in yards of breezy orange fabric.

Without thinking, Ernie swore under his breath.

"You really should watch your language, Ernie," the woman said in perfect British English.

Ernie gaped. And he hated to gape.

"Come on, we don't have all day to get you settled and I would really like to Apparate back to finish up some categorising before the day is out." She reached to take his suitcase, but Ernie grabbed it before she did.

"Bloody buggering hell," Ernie shifted his carry-on bag over his shoulder. "I really don't get paid enough for this."

"I can empathise. My wages really don't include travelling to the airport to pick up wizards who are, for the most part, rather culturally insensitive. Yet here I am. Defying all natural logic."

Ernie frowned. He thought he was being insulted and yet wasn't exactly sure. The way she spoke to him was... Oh. He fell to a stop and was nearly run over by a man in a turban, bags piled high on a trolley. There were two Indian girls who had attended Hogwarts. One of them, he knew, was still in England promoting her line of cosmetics. And the only reason that Ernie knew that is because the girls at the office talked about her a lot. He'd not seen a picture in ages. This must be the carbon copy.

The Ravenclaw.

"Padma Patil."

"The Hufflepuff catches on a little faster than I'd figured," she said over her shoulder. 

"Oi! I'm not daft. I'm tired. I'm hungry. But I'm not daft." Ernie jogged to catch up with her. "Forgive me if I didn't realise I'd be meeting an old school chum halfway across the world. And what do you mean by culturally insensitive? I've been perfectly polite!"

Why hadn't he realised that this could happen? It wasn't as if every Hogwarts student stayed in England. They travelled everywhere, working in all manner of locations. Susan had spent practically forever in Japan before meeting Boot and coming home with a ring on her finger. Zacharias had lived in Norway for eight years before following Hannah home. Justin was living across the pond in bloody Canada. Canada! And he was starting to sound like one of them too. Going on and on about that crazy game those people played with ice skates and sticks. Though he shouldn't be surprised. The boyfriend was Muggle and a fan of some team with leaves in the name.

Why people couldn't just watch a normal sport like Quidditch or Cricket, Ernie would never know.

Padma turned and looked at him, one hand on her hip. "You pushed in front of that elderly woman and then said some rather nasty words to her. You spoke to me like... well like I was stupid. And right now you're making faces because you're not used to the sounds or the smells."

"I can't help that!" Ernie hissed, trying not to raise his voice in the middle of an airport. "I forgot to learn Punjabi during my flight and I really am sorry, but it does smell in here. We've all gotten off bloody twenty hour plus trips. None of us smell like flowers!"

A strange disbelieving sound came out of her and she shook her head before turning to lead him out of the terminal and toward a place where they could apparate safely.

This was going to be a _long_ trip.

***

_Hannah ~~Abb~~ ~~Long~~ ,_

_For God's sake Hannah! How am I supposed to address you now? Are you still a Longbottom or have you gone back to your maiden name?_

_You can tell Zacharias that I am perfectly miserable._

_I honestly do not know how this country even manages the Floo Network they have in place, let alone even think they are going to be able to attempt international connections in the time they've given me. Three weeks! I've been here three weeks! And it feels like I've only managed to scrape the surface. Do you even know how difficult this is? I've had to travel through Network connections that in all likelihood should not exist just to test that they are stable. For the record, they are not! Which means I have to go back and set the proper charms in the houses that have shoddy connections._

_Do you know how large the country is??_

_I am always dirty, always hot, always sweating and Patil is no help at all. Could you ask Susan to ask her husband if there's some sort of trick to understanding this woman? He was her housemate for seven years. He must know something! So far it's been nothing but insults and remarks about how I am not being sensitive to the way things are done around here._

_Well, I can't help it if they're being done wrong!_

_I've included a little clay doll for Charlotte. A local village woman gave it to me. Susan can put it aside until she's old enough to play with it,._

_Sincerely  
Ernie Macmillan Esq._

*

_Ernie,_

_I've spoken with Terry myself. By the by, he was surprised to hear that you were working with Padma. He's not heard from her in a number of years. He said to tell you that she just likes to be talked to as an equal, but other than that... You're kind of on your own. He says, and I quote, that if he understood how she thought then he'd probably still be dating her and not married to Susan, so he's glad he never did._

_I wish I could tell you more, but it sounds like you're having a rough time of it. I'm sure it can't be as bad as you are making it out to be. Maybe you should take an interest in something outside of the Floo. Go see the Taj or visit some temples. Take a day and be a tourist. Maybe you'll have a bit of fun and it will put everything in perspective._

_Ask Padma to show you around perhaps? She might cut you a little slack if you look like you're interested in expanding your horizons. And I don't mean just look like it. Actually try to do it and enjoy yourself._

_Love  
Hannah Longbottom (legally, still my last name)_

Ernie folded up the letter and shoved it into the top drawer of his desk. Hannah's idea was terrible. Be a tourist? He didn't have time for that. There was too much work to be done and too little time to do it as was evident by the eight inch stack of files sitting on the corner of his desk of Floo routes that needed to be tested and retrofitted.

And the technicians weren't anywhere _near_ up to the standards where Ernie would let them work on their own.

"Macmillan?" Padma leaned into his office. "The Ministry is putting a halt on our work for today. We can go home."

Ernie looked at her baffled. "What?! But the A4 line needs a final test run! We can't just stop. It'll throw the rest of our schedule out of synch."

"Do you think I didn't bring that up?" She frowned at him. "This has to do with some sort of issue between the states that has come to light. We're not involved in negotiations, so we can go home."

Politics. Ernie frowned and folded his hands on the desk. He wasn't pleased with this turn of events in the slightest. Though he supposed that he shouldn't be surprised. The work was often put on hold in order to cater to some sort of "negotiations" that hadn't been finalised before he arrived. He'd been reminded by Patil on several occasions that it wasn't unusual for this to happen. If he thought about it hard enough, it really wasn't all that unusual for the British Ministry to bog him down with red tape, but this situation was far more irritating because the longer he was delayed the longer he had to stay.

In any case, there wasn't really anything he could do about it.

Looking at the drawer, he thought of the letter he'd just placed inside.

"Patil, would it be an inconvenience...." He paused and looked up at her. "Would you show me around?"

"Around where?"

"I dunno. The city? A park? Some temple or something? You're always calling me insensitive.."

"That's because you are."

Ernie took a breath and pressed his lips together, then spoke through clenched teeth. "So I was _thinking_ that maybe you could show me something so I can become _less_ so."

"Fine." She had her hands on her hips, not looking like she was pleased he was asking. "Meet me at the entrance in ten minutes."

***

Well if he was going to be honest, Ernie had to admit that he was enjoying himself. Despite the humidity. Padma took him to an enormous park, which she said were called the Lodhi Gardens. A pamphlet back at his hotel room had mentioned the gardens, something about how they had been commissioned or designed during the British Raj, but he'd not actually taken the time to read more about them. It was nice. This little bit of tranquility in the middle of a sprawling and overpopulated city.

"Here. Have some jaangiri." Padma held out a curly, orange thing in a paper napkin that she had purchased from a man sitting on a blanket. Ernie opened his mouth to protest eating things from strangers without proof of proper food sanitation procedures, but she thrust the object into his hand. "Just _try_ it, Macmillan. It's not going to kill you."

He eyed the treat in his hand before taking a small nibble. This strange, sweet flavour filled his mouth. Wow. Oh _wow_. It wasn't like anything he'd ever tasted before and yet almost tasted like everything in a small way. It was absolutely amazing and he was halfway through eating it before he stopped to speak. And he instantly regretted how shocked he sounded when he said, "this is _good_."

"Did you think I would feed you something that wasn't?" she said with an annoyed tone.

"I didn't mean it like that. I've just... I've never... " But Padma was already walking away. Ernie jogged to catch up. "Hey. Patil. Wait. What on _Earth_ are you so hostile about? I was complimenting this thing...not accusing you of anything. You've been treating me terribly since I arrived and I have no idea why."

She whirled about, all yellow fabric and angry expressions. "No idea why? _None_? So you didn't come halfway across the world because a woman can't do just a good a job at this Floo project as a man? You _don't_ hate this entire country because it isn't cold and wet and clammy like mother England? You _don't_ write home and tell your friends how awful and terrible it is here?"

"How do you know what I write home?" Ernie asked with a frown. Reading someone else's letters was a severe breech of privacy. "Because that's... that's _low_ , Patil."

"Oh I didn't read your letters, you silly twit. It was just a guess. Seems I was proved accurate, wasn't I?"

"Well come _on_! It's nine hundred degrees out here with no sign of it getting colder. I've sweated in places I didn't know I had! You can't get a proper fry-up anywhere except the British Embassy and even then it's not as good as home. And what's all this about me thinking you can't do your job because you're a girl? Woman... whatever. That's codswallop."

He didn't understand where she was coming from. Alright, maybe he was a _little_ intolerant of the weather and the unusual way of doing things. But he didn't ever think she was incompetent. In his opinion Ravenclaws were just as competent at things as Hufflepuffs. In entirely different ways, but still competent. He'd seen her notes, her outlines, all her charts. Her work was impressive and it had made his job run more smoothly than it had in England. In fact, he probably would have given his right arm to have her help out there when he was retrofitting the connections back home.

Padma was still furious. "Six months! Six bloody months I spent drawing up the proposal and the plans for this project. Then not only do they give the job I wanted away to a _man_ , but they bring him in from England and make me his driver and assistant. Assistant!"

Ernie blinked, his mouth hanging open slightly. "I didn't know that."

"Sure you didn't," she snapped, though it looked like the wind was going out of her sails.

"I didn't! I was only told that it was important for England and that I was good for the job. I was under the impression that it was a joint venture, but they certainly didn't say it was because they didn't want a woman to do the job." He looked at her. For the first time since arriving he was actually concerned with what she thought of him. Before all this it was more that it didn't matter because he was the best person (or so he thought) for the job and he didn't actually care what they thought of him, only that they trusted him to get the job done. "Patil, all this time... You haven't been thinking that I thought you were beneath me because you're a woman, have you?"

"You hardly ever say please and you don't even use my first name. I can take that from the men I work with on a daily basis, but you're supposed to be different. You weren't raised here."

Ernie opened his mouth to say something in response to that, but realised she was actually quite right. He didn't use please with her. Albeit he didn't use please with a lot of people because he was used to making his requests almost like demands. Please made you appear less in charge of some of the more burly wizards in England. As for her first name versus her last name, she didn't use his either. He didn't understand why this was so important. He used last names with just about everyone who wasn't in his House. It put them all on a more equal playing field.

Or so he'd thought.

Shite. This had all gone arse-backwards all of a sudden.

Ernie rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing at the wet collar of his shirt. "Pat-- Padma. I don't think you're beneath me. In fact, out of all the people I've worked with since arriving here, you're the only one who really seems like you've got a head on your shoulders." He sighed. "Can we start over, maybe? Please?" He held out his hand. "Hi. Ernie Macmillan. Hufflepuff, junior minister, here to work on the Floo Network. You must be Padma. I hear we're going to be working together.

Her face softened and her shoulders dropped. "You're being ridiculous."

"Oh come on, it can't make anything worse, can it? And I'm _trying_."

It took a moment. Him standing there with his hand extended and her eying it sceptically. Finally she gave in, her slim hand clasping his and giving it a shake. For the first time in weeks, the two of them exchanged a smile. Maybe working on the Floo connections wouldn't be so terrible this time. Ernie let go of her hand and shoved one in his back pocket while the other still clasped the mashed up treat she'd given him to begin with.

"We should go back," she said, looking up to the sky.

Ernie's gaze followed. "A little cloud cover is going to send us running? I hardly think we have to worry about that."

No sooner than the words were out of his mouth than the first few drops of rain fell. Ernie shrugged it off because it seemed like the same kind of brief rainstorm that always snuck up on you in the highlands. There was a rumble and suddenly the clouds opened up and it seemed like all the rain in the entire _world_ was coming down upon their heads. In a matter of seconds the two of them were soaked through.

"What the _hell_?!" exclaimed Ernie, holding his arms up over his head.

"I told you we should have gone back. Welcome to your first monsoon shower, Ernie. I'm surprised we haven't had one earlier in your stay." She should her head. Wet strands of hair clung to the side of her face. 

"Good god, I thought it only started raining when there were no clouds in the sky. That's what your cinema things always showed."

Padma laughed. "India is _not_ like a Bollywood film, Ernie. And on that point... Don't get it in your head that I'm going to start dancing and singing in the rain like I'm some sort of Aishwarya Rai. Because that's not going to happen."

Ernie raised his eyebrows. "Well that's a pity. I was actually starting to like that part of Indian culture."

She gave him a shove and they Apparated back to the Ministry to dry off.

***

After their argument in the gardens, things improved between Padma and Ernie. She became much more tolerant of his complaints and wasted no time in telling him to can it when he got too noisy about something that was upsetting him. Ernie became more open to newer experiences. He asked Padma to take him places around the country; one day a week they would go somewhere new. And it made the next month and a half fly by. He bought a miniature replica of the Taj for Hannah and made attempts with new things to eat. Though sometimes the latter had disastrous results.

But how was he supposed to know that he was ordering an extra spicy curry? And what had Padma done? Just sat there the whole time while he fanned the flames that he was certain were coming out of his mouth pretending to look surprised at his reaction. After that, he decided to stick to only mild butter chicken or something with korma in the name. He made Padma teach him the Punjabi word for mild just to be sure that he was ordering correctly.

"Padma, I think you should take me to see this Qutub Minar thing tomorrow," Ernie said, coming into the office, his nose buried in a pamphlet. "And then this iron pillar thing too. I already know you're going to make some comment about it being all Freudian, Ravenclaw, so don't even try. This has nothing to do with a phallic fixation, I swear."

Upon looking up from the pamphlet, Ernie realised that Padma was not alone and his face flamed red. The rotund older man standing next to Ernie's desk had a scowl on his face that Ernie swore up and down was a permanent feature. He folded his arms over his chest and waited for Ernie to set down his things. Padma was standing off to the side looking at the floor. She disliked drop in visits from the higher Ministers as much as Ernie did. Fat old coots didn't know the first thing about the practical application of their decisions. It was all, 'how much longer', 'you're behind schedule' and Ernie's personal favourite, 'it really shouldn't be so difficult.'

" _Sat Sri Akal_ , Mr Gupta. We haven't seen you down in our neck of the woods for a long time. You got our last report, yes?"

"That is correct Mr Macmillan. The committee has asked me to approach you with some concerns regarding what they feel are unnecessary extravagances and expenditures." He tucked his hand into the pocket of his waistcoat, looking rather like an Indian Churchill. At least that was Ernie's opinion.

"Mr Gupta, the most recent tally of figures shows that we're under budget," said Padma, reaching for the ledger on her desk. "In fact, some of the changes that Ernie has implemented has brought down our costs..."

The senior wizard turned and gave Padma what looked to be a patronising sort of smile and Ernie would have put down solid galleons that Gupta was about to pat her on the head and tell her to be good. It wasn't the first time he'd witnessed this behaviour. It certainly became more apparent once she'd let him know that this was how it had always been for her. His hand clenched, squashing the pamphlet he'd been holding. This sort of behaviour was ridiculous.

"Miss Patil," Gupta placed a meaty hand on her shoulder. "Would you mind fetching us some coffee like a good girl? Mr Macmillan and I have much to discuss and I wouldn't want to worry you with all the details. If you don't mind."

Yet the way he said made Ernie think that Gupta didn't care either way if Padma minded.

"Hang on," he said, putting up his hand. "Don't do that. Padma is an important part of this project and I won't have you just sending her off to fetch and carry like that. I don't care who you are."

"Ernie!" Padma gasped from near the door.

"No, Padma. Enough is enough." He turned on Gupta. "You've got a brilliant employee in Padma Patil and all you're using her for is one step above a office clerk. She's put just as much, if not more, work into your country's Floo network than anyone I have seen on this team. She stays late and arrives early and you and your bloody _committee_ are more concerned about her sex than you are about a job well done. She could have single-handedly run this entire project without me if you had given her the chance, but instead you wrote off to a foreign government to get someone else because somehow in your ruddy _backwards_ thinking she's not good enough." And then Ernie did something to a Ministry official that he had never done before. He reached out and prodded Gupta in the middle of his chest. "Well you, sir, are wrong. She is more than good enough. She's probably the smartest damn employee you've got in this entire building and you're too pig-headed to even see that!"

Gupta's face had gone red and his mouth opened and closed as if he was looking for a cutting remark to shout back.

Ernie crossed his arms. "Now. Unless you have some genuine concerns about the safety of this project or the deadline, _then_ come to us. But as long as we're under budget and ahead of schedule, which we are now, no thanks to anyone but that amazing young woman standing over there, you can show yourself out. Unless you'd rather we just not finish at all!"

"I'll be writing to your superiors," Gupta huffed and pointed an accusing figure at Ernie. "I knew it was a mistake to let you into the country. You'll be out of a job by the end of this contract!" He stormed out of the office, leaving a shocked Padma and a still-fuming Ernie in his wake.

"I can't believe you just did that," she said, her eyes wide as she stared out the door, watching Gupta round the corner and disappear from sight.

"Name one thing that wasn't true," Ernie said, his still hunched and tight with fury. "Bloody wanker."

It felt rather liberating to shout all those things. And yet as the fury started to disappear, Ernie started to realise what he'd just done. He had, for the most part, just torn a strip off of his direct superior. He'd acted completely out of character and he'd gotten mad. But it wasn't as though he was mad at Gupta for being the boss who doesn't care, but mad at Gupta for being the insufferable pig that he was. It made him angry. He didn't like seeing her treated like this. Oh dear god, he was probably going to lose his job! What was he going to do? This was a disaster!

"Everything's going to get terribly worse for you, isn't it?" he asked after a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying not to reel from the fact that he was going to be out of work.

"I don't care," she answered.

"What?" He looked up.

There was a small smile on her face and she was standing close to him. He'd not even realised that she moved. "I don't care," Padma said and flung her arms over his shoulders, pressing her lips against his.

Ernie didn't get kissed by girls. That is to say, he'd kissed girls. He snuck a few from Hannah until they both decided that it wasn't going to work and they were better off as good friends instead. He'd snogged that girl from Beauxbatons after the Yule Ball but nothing ever came out of that except this hard-on that lasted for at least three hours. But he usually initiated it. Girls didn't come to him. They didn't flirt with him unless he flirted first. They certainly didn't tackle him in an office, winding themselves around him and kissing him until he was dizzy as Padma Patil was in the process of doing.

By God he _liked_ it.

She was the one to start it. She was also the one to pull back. Just enough that their lips parted. Though he tried very hard, leaning forward, to follow her with his mouth and not quite ready to give it up.

There were questions. There were many questions and he wanted to ask all of them. Except he didn't. He just wanted to pull her into his arms again, finding out whether or not he had dreamed just now that her lips were as sweet as jaangiri. He wanted to envelope her, all breezy fabric and sudden downpours. This was a strange new experience for him. To be completely awash with unquestioning _need_ for contact with another human being. And he really, _really_ wanted to be in contact with Padma Patil.

She was still within reach and his hand went from her shoulder, down her arm to her wrist. Clasping his hand around the circumference of it, he tugged her close. "I'm planning to kiss you again," he said, trying not to be embarrassed by the husky sound of his voice.

"Are you now?" 

"After that," He cupped his hand against her cheek. "I'm probably going to kiss you a third time. And it might end up continuing."

There was a rather mischievous glint in her eyes that he'd never seen before. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

He smiled. "I think it's a particularly brilliant idea. One of my best. And I do have brilliant ideas so very often."

A laugh. A laugh that caused a flutter to go through his body from his chest down to his toes. Padma slid her arms around him. "Well. Who am I to argue in the face of brilliant ideas?"

"Exactly." He closed the space between them.

***

_Dear Hannah,_

_You really should get out of the country more often and see some of the more exotic lands of this world! It's terribly fascinating and now that the Floo Network is stable here, I think I'm taking some time off to travel. Padma's coming with me. She gave her notice at the Indian Ministry and is coming back to England after this is all said and done. I think it'll be good for her._

_Good for me too._

_Tell Zacharias that, as much as it pains me to admit, I grudgingly accept that he was right. I did find something I liked in India._

_Sincerely,  
Ernie Macmillan Esq._

Hannah put aside the letter and reached into her apron pocket, holding out a galleon to Zacharias. "You win."

"Easiest galleon I ever made, Hannah-banana," Zacharias said with a wink and tucked the coin into his pocket.


End file.
